Author's Note: Same as previous chapters. thanks to  the guys and DLP and FFA. 

I had a lot of extra time today so I pumped another chapter out. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Aww, What the Hell

There flapped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things... not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human

beings, but something I cannot and must not recall. – H.P. Lovecraft.

"He Is Not To Be Named," a faceless voice echoed in the black.

The air was cold and dank. Involuntary chills ran through Harry's body as he walked through the nothingness; the only sound coming from his footfalls echoing in the dark. He spun around every now and again knowing he was being watched, observed, weighed, and measured. Pulling his robes tightly around him he knew beyond a doubt that it wasn't the temperature that was freezing through his skin, bone-deep; it was the unmitigated evil that had yet to face.

The smell of dead flesh, bloating by the sea wafted past. It was a scent he was familiar with as some people rid the evidence of their crime into the Thames thinking that creatures of the sea would eventually eat away the body, making his job that much harder.

He pulled out his wand and incanted the Light Charm to utter failure. Harry felt his magic, knew it was working, sensed the ever-small vibration of his wand. He knew the Light Charm was active, but he could see nothing, not even the hand in front of his face.

Another sound deep in the dark, somewhere above made him involuntarily look up. He knew his attempts were fruitless, but it gave him a way to focus his hearing, trying desperately to identify whatever creature he was to fated to do battle. Slow swooping sounds circled above. Whatever flying creature sought him as its prey was joined by a second and then a third until he couldn't tell how many there were in the absent sky above.     

"Okay, to hell with this," Harry spat as he raised his wand and tried his best to aim. "Concustos!"

He spun around and yelled up at the sky. "You wanna piece of me! Let's go! Concustos!"

Sweat ran down his face even though he felt like he was freezing to death. His breathing increased and Harry felt his heart racing from the adrenaline being poured into his bloodstream. "Dammit! Stupefy! Lacerate! Sectumsempra! Reducto!"

He gnashed his teeth together and knew he was on the edge of panic. Nothing worked against this nameless and faceless foe. Fear was edging its web over his mind, and he knew that if he were to succumb then he would surely die or go insane. Instead, Harry consciously slowed his breathing and tried to clear his mind. The process was difficult with the constant WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP sounding above, but clear his mind he did.

He took in a breath of the foul air that surrounded him and brought forth the feeling he had when he, in the company of Ron and Hermione, blew out the top of Gringotts as they rode the stolen dragon into the London Sky.

"Expecto Patronum!"  

His silvery stag burst forth from his wand and he could see! Charging into a flock of insectoid-bat like creatures the Patronus scattered them for a moment, but they were not afraid. Instead, the creatures looked angry. The wingspan stretched ten to twelve feet and the creature's body bore little resemblance to anything he had ever seen before. It was insect-like, perhaps ant-like. They turned their elongated heads and opened their fang-filled mouths to screech angrily at him for disturbing their hunt. Then they dove.

"Oh crap."

Harry knew running was a fruitless endeavor so he stood his ground and held his wand high.

O_o

 Harry's eye's shot open and he almost screamed out in the natural darkness. His hands gripped the arms of the recliner where he remembered he was sleeping the previous evening. He wiped at the sweat beading all along his face and looked around the room. The only light was coming from the bathroom behind the slightly opened door.

"Bad dreams?" Su Li asked from the armchair across the room.

He ignored the question and sat up properly. "Go ahead and get some sleep." He ran his hands across his pants trying in vain to rid himself of his clammy palms. "I think I'll be up for the rest of my life."

She stood and slipped off her robes, laying them across the chair as she kicked off her shoes. Dressed only in a yellow tank top with matching shorts she went over and climbed into bed next to Hannah and Padma.

Harry glanced over at Manspark to see the elderly knight staring at him with muted sympathy before closing his eyes.

Morning came without preamble and they had gathered around the conference table as breakfast was provided by the palace kitchens. Conversation was light and inconsequential considering the excitement and horror of the previous day. Harry finished his eggs and bacon before leaning back to sip the last dregs of his now lukewarm tea.

"I think Voldemort may be back."

Su Li fumbled her juice and Hannah nearly choked on a bite of egg. Padma paused in mid bite with a stunned look on her face. "How can that be? I thought…"

Without letting her finish her question Harry continued. "Did any of you know about my dreams?"

Manspark leaned forward. "Is this the same Voldemort that you have killed twice already?"

Harry nodded somberly.  He looked up at the girls and saw their interest in his mentioning his dreams. "I used to have nightmares – visions, of what he was doing. We had a connection because a seventh of his soul was trapped in me." He could see the distaste on their faces but persevered. "I had another vision last night. It was dark and cold … evil is the only way I know how to describe where I was. I was surrounded by it."

"Merlin," whispered Hannah.

"None of my magic could penetrate the dark. Something was flying around above." He paused and took a calming breath. "I was finally able to cast my Patronus with normal effect. It lit up the area and I saw these bat things. They were as big as a man, maybe bigger; fangs, claws. It had the whole monster thing down pretty good."

Padma instantly became enthralled.  "What else, Harry?"

He shrugged. "They attacked and I woke up."

Confusion covered Padma's face. "Then why do you think it was Voldemort?"

He set his cup down and looked her in the eye. "At the beginning there was a voice that said one thing: 'He is not to be named.'"

Her eyes widened and she fell back into her chair looking off into nothing. Harry closed his eyes and rubbed the sleep away that he had never seemed to be able to rid himself of since the adventure started. He breathed slow and even to keep himself cool and collected in front of everyone.

The silence was broken moments later. "It's not Voldemort."

Harry looked up hopefully and saw the expression on her face. It wasn't very comforting.

"It's so much worse," she added. She jumped up and raced out of the room. Harry was quick on her heels.

He raised his voice as he reached the doorway. "Padma, wait."

She slowed abruptly and turned, heading back to the office. She almost pushed Harry out of the way. "Sir Rupert, I need to know where every entrance and exit to the palace is."

The elderly knight gripped the arms to his chair and stood. "Why?"

Padma was on the edge of panic. "If I'm right then everyone in the Palace is in danger. I have to cast protection runes on every entrance and exit or the creatures that Harry described will have access as sure as if we held the door open for them."

Manspark crossed to his desk and picked up his phone. After dialing three digits he waited for a second and then in a very authoritative voice gave orders to the person on the other end.  "I need the Commander of the Watch in my office now. Time is of the essence."

Harry leaned against the door jamb and crossed his arms. "And if you have time, Padma, you can enlighten us as to whom the bogeyman is?"

She shook her head. "I can't say its name. To do so would set his eye upon us."Harry rolled his eyes. "I think I've been through this scenario before. Do we have to go through the whole fear of a name speech again?"

Her hands clinched into fists and then released. "You don't understand, Harry. Its eye will really be upon us." She looked from side to side. "It's also known as the King in Yellow, or The Unspeakable."

Behind her Su Li gasped and covered her mouth. Harry noted the fear in Su's eyes and the panic in Padma's body language. "Fine, I'll go with the King in Yellow, at least it's some kind of title. So what does this King do?"

Padma laughed but almost cried at the same time. "What can't it do would be a better question."

Sounds of booted feet rushed down the hall and Harry stuck his head out to see four middle-aged armed military types rushing his way. He stood to the side and let Manspark deal with them.

"I want you to show Ms. Patil every conceivable way in and out of the Palace immediately," he ordered the Commander as he crossed the room when he saw the reluctant look on the man's face. "The Queen's life is in danger as well as every person in the Palace."

The Commander looked around at the people in the office and then left the room. He stood in the hallway out of Harry's earshot talking on a small handheld radio.

"Look's like he's getting the okay from his boss, whoever that is," noted Harry.

Manspark nodded. "I don't have the power to reveal all of the Palace's secrets, and you Ms. Patil will be forced to sign a security document before they will show you anything other than what is commonly known."

"Fine," she replied. "Tell them to catch me up then. I'll do the ones I already know first." She turned to head out when she grasped Harry's shirt. "I could use some help and I'm going to go ahead and ask that we wait for explanations until after we've secured the Palace."

Reluctantly Harry nodded. "Fine."

They rushed down the stairwell at the end of the hall and then to the back entrance where Padma sealed the door. She lifted her wand up about head high and started making cock-eyed L-shapes.

"What's the rune?" Harry asked.

Padma frowned. "It's not any rune that has been taught at Hogwarts. It's a protection sigil that will keep any minion from The Unspeakable at bay. They won't be able to pass any door that bares the sigil."

Harry watched as she finished and circled the rune. "Haven't I seen that somewhere before?"

The rune faded from view and she turned to face him. "No time, Harry. Did you pay attention to how it was cast?"

Harry placed his hands on his hips and gave her a grudging look. "Yes."

"It has to be performed exactly like I've shown, Harry, Are you sure?"

"I said yes." His eyes narrowed. "I'm on the verge of being pissed off, Padma. Don't push me."

A hurt look dropped over her face, but then it turned resolute. "Every door and window must be secured with that rune. If we miss even one then we will surely be dead come nightfall."

Harry looked up at the building in front of him and the dozens of windows. "Great." An idea came to mind. "Why don't we get Su and Hannah to help?"

She shook her head. "I can't go into the reasons why, Harry. Just do this and I will explain everything afterward."  

o_O

They spent the better part of three hours meticulously going over every window, door, air vent and chimney before calling it quits for lunch. Padma avoided Harry's questioning and suspicious gaze over their light meal and then excused herself to his quarters where she promised to meet him afterward.

Harry Apparated outside his quarters to alert her he was there before opening the door and entering. He looked around and his feet led him to the bedroom where Padma sat on the edge of the bed with her head hung. Without any fanfare Harry shrugged his coat off and laid it over an empty armchair.

"That's not an ordinary tattoo at the small of your back is it?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No."

He still couldn't see her face so he closed in on her slowly. "Care to enlighten me?"

She took a cleansing breath and began. "My family … we never worshipped the traditional Indian gods."

Harry turned and stepped back to a second armchair to make himself comfortable.

"They've been part of a following for almost two thousand years; a tradition handed down through the bloodline."

"You mean a cult?" asked Harry with a somewhat disingenuous attitude.

She looked up in annoyance. "Some, less enlightened people might call it that, yes."

He waved his hand. "So you are in a cult. Tell me about it."

Her face went stern. "If I explain further I can pretty much guarantee my death at their hands."

Harry didn't look concerned at all. "And if you don't spill then I'll wait until dark and boot your ass out the back door."

She weighed his words and the truth she heard expressed through them. "We don't do anyone any harm, Harry. In fact it is the exact opposite."

He sat forward in his chair and leaned his elbows on his knees. "Tell me about this King in Yellow."

He saw her relief displayed on her face and went into what she knew. "It is a Great Old One. You've heard of Cthulhu?" He remembered his Dark Creatures classes at the Auror Academy and one of the strongest and more moody Great Old Ones. Cthulhu had a large and mostly insane following that originally went insane from just seeing the twenty story tall octopus like monster. It was the only way to describe the thing and keep one's sanity intact. The truth was almost always worse than the tales. At his nod she continued. "It's his half-brother."

Harry's head shook in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"The creatures you saw in your vision – they are the Byakhee – they are the harbingers of The Unspeakable. To see them, to battle them, is to bring The Unspeakable's attention directly upon you. If you defeat them in battle he will come for you personally."

While he had no doubt about the truthfulness of her statement there was one thing that he already knew. "They were banished, Padma. The monsters can't break through the plainial barriers. If they could then they would be here already destroying everything in their path. You already know this."

She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "And yet the Hounds of Tindalos just popped up in droves yesterday, didn't they?"

Harry couldn't deny that little tidbit. But he pushed it aside. "I'm not buying it, Padma. If what we've read already is true then the Hounds were already here on Earth. They were just in a different time, literally. And there's no way you are going to convince me that some two-hundred foot monster from another plane that drives men insane with no more than a mere look is actually behind this."

Padma growled in frustration. "When the Byakhee appear tonight, Harry, then you'll believe."

He leaned back. "You're actually trying to scare me with a plane traveling creature that is named after some Japanese wanking porn?"

"What?" Padma said incredulously.

Harry held up his hand. "Never mind. Tell me about the lopsided star I've been painting the windows with."

He watched her frustration as he jumped from subject to subject. "The Elder Sign; it is symbolic of my family. It is a protection sigil against any creature or entity sent by the Old Ones."

Pondering that bit of information for a moment Harry asked, "And this Elder Sign wouldn't have anything to do with, oh, I don't know, maybe the Elder Gods?"

"I …" stammered Padma. "I …"

Harry stood and advanced on her. "Are these the same Elder Gods that were almost as bad as the Old Ones that tried to kill everyone on Earth?"

She shook her head. "No, not kill," she said defensively.

"Oh." His hands spread wide and he gave her a great big smile. "Sorry, I meant enslave. Pardon me."

"Not all of the Elder Gods wanted this, Harry."

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Please excuse my lack of caring, Padma. Three Auror's are dead and a number of Muggles, not to mention me, you, Hannah, Su, and our favorite constipated knight are all on the menu."

  She pushed herself off of the bed and met him nearly eye to eye. "What do you want me to do, Harry? Do you want me to admit that I called the Hounds? Maybe that I've been alive since the 1700's being a bad girl through the ages? It's not going to happen because my family has been doing everything in their power to make sure nothing like this ever happens."

He turned away and walked a few paces. "Spill, Padma, or I swear I will take you in and lock you up until you do." He spun back around and narrowed his eyes. "Maybe Parvati would be more pliable."

Padma laughed. "Oh, she's pliable and has also memorized every page of the Kama Sutra. You'll have quite a good time, Harry. However you wouldn't learn anything of any use."

After thinking quick thoughts about certain pages of the Kama Sutra along with a willing Parvati he shook his head. "I thought you said that this was a family thing?"

She crossed her arms and looked somewhat smug. "In my family it was passed from father to daughter, me, not Parvati." She eyed him with doubt. "Can you honestly say that Parvati has the discipline to …"

Harry waved her off. "Never mind."

Her features softened. "Each of us is sworn to secrecy. It is somewhat like an Unbreakable Vow." She reached around and touched the tattoo through her blouse. "I made my vow when I came of age, the night I received the mark. Harry, please understand that unless you were to join my family or another of the tradition then you cannot know what we know."

Harry backed away and held his hands up. "Whoop, hold it right there. This wizard's got a lot of free years ahead of him. Not gonna happen."

Confused, Padma paused for a second and then rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Harry. I'm so glad the thought of you being married to me is so appealing."

He gave her a Gaelic shrug.

Strengthening her resolve she gave him one final comment about the subject. "You didn't seem to mind the benefits the other night when my mouth was wrapped around your…"

"Gah!" He jumped back far enough to bounce off the wall.

"What?"

"Don't talk about it!" he almost pleaded.

Padma eyed him like he was crazy. "What on earth are you …" She stopped for a second and then a delightful smile graced her face.  "Harry, you aren't embarrassed about …" Then she laughed – and laughed – and laughed. She fell backward onto the bed grabbing her side with one hand and tried to cover her mouth with the other.

Disgruntled, Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

Her body shook with giggles which eventually died down to a bight smile as she pulled herself back up into a sitting position. "Why, on earth, would you be embarrassed?"

Harry looked to the side to avoid her gaze. "I'm an Englishman, Padma. Sex is supposed to be performed with the doors and windows closed, in the dark, and never ever talked about in company unless it's done so in jest or to bolster one's ego."

"Hmph," Padma remarked. "It wasn't so dark the other night."

He turned his attention back to her. "Special circumstances – Hounds."

"Ridiculous, there is absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about what we shared." Padma crossed her legs and Harry watched as her shoe dangled slightly off of her heel.  "I needed comfort after experiencing that blue goo, and you … well you were male. And I must say you have quite the talented tongue."

Harry cringed slightly at Padma once more breeching the Englishman's credo, but he also felt a little pride in her statement.

"Are you saying you'd have rather not seen me?"

A slight panicked look dropped onto his face at Padma asking one of those impossible to answer questions. He fought the urge to go back on what he just told her about the credo, but he most assuredly loved being able to see every inch of her dark smooth skin.

Her hand moved slowly up to her top button. With a flick of her fingers it was released. "So if, for instance, I were to strip all of my clothes off right here in front of you and maybe dance for you a little, you'd want me to have the lights turned off?"

Harry's mouth went dry as he watched her flick the second button open and exposed just a hint of the cleavage he became more than familiar with two nights previous. He swallowed and then dropped his hands to his sides. Moving slowly but with determination he was drawn to stand in front of her.

Padma released another button and spread her blouse apart showing the black lace of her bra lifting her breasts up and together. It was all Harry could do to cup her face and lean in to brush his lips against hers without flinging her back on the bed. He pressed his lips harder and felt her open in acceptance. With just a taste of her tongue he broke away and trailed his lips along her angular jaw to her neck where he lightly bit down.

A soft moan escaped her lips as she felt him move higher and take her earlobe between his teeth, teasing her.

"Padma," he whispered with far too much breath in his voice.

"Uh huh," she responded in equal measure.

"I'm not that easy."

Before he was able to pull away she growled and pushed him back. Harry's smirk was back once he knew he was in control of the situation.

"Now tell me about the Bukkake."

Twisting each button on her blouse through their corresponding eye she radiated red from the combination frustration and embarrassment. "It's Byakhee, not some stupid adolescent fantasy of yours."

Harry nodded in acceptance. "Whatever gets you to open your mouth … sorry, bad choice of words," he said in amusement. "I meant shoot away … damn, sorry again. Man, am I embarrassed."

Padma leveled her gaze, and her voice was tight and even. "I hate you."

He seemed quite all right about her feelings. "It's okay, all the cool people do."